My Diddy. And Maggie's Daddy.

I must be one of the luckiest girls in the world to have such a wonderful father. He's not only my "Diddy" but he's my friend. I have always had a good relationship with my Dad. Even when I got my first speeding ticket in college, I remember e-mailing my Dad while he was in Zambia, Africa, and telling him. Like a loving father, he let me know that we all make mistakes and that he'd help me take care of it when he got home. Most fathers probably wouldn't have responded this way, but my Dad has always been so easy to go to, talk to, and help out any way he can. As I've grown older, I still go to my Dad for help and advice. My Dad is like a superhero. He is one of the strongest men I know. I am blessed to have him as my father. I appreciate him and love him more than he'll ever know. And Maggie's lucky to have such a wonderful grandfather.

On to my husband, the new Dad. Maggie and I are very blessed to have such a good husband and Dad. I knew Wes would be a good Dad when we were dating. I saw it in him many years ago. He has such a big heart, very loving, and even has a little bit of a mushy side when it comes to his girls. When I see him look at Maggie, I can see the love in his eyes. I knew when we found out we were expecting a girl, he'd be wrapped around that finger. And he is. But we all are. Maggie is a little young to know the meaning of Father's Day, but she'll know soon enough how blessed she is to have such a wonderful, Christian, loving father, just like my Dad is.

Posted by: Bethany

Happy Father's Day!

Today is the day to celebrate our fathers and what they mean to our families. For me, personally, I love my dad. My dad has always been more than a father to me. He's always been one of my best friends. I bet that my dad has no idea how many things he taught me that I still hold to. My dad raised me to be an Atlanta Braves fan, and we used to sit around at night and watch the games together. To this day I still sit down at night and watch them play. My dad made sure that the home I was raised in was a nurturing, Christian environment. I hope that one day my daughter is as proud of me as I am of my dad.

Posted by: Wes

Our first overnight adventure.

This past weekend we packed a tremendous amount of stuff to go away for one night. My parents came and got us on Friday morning and we took off to get Maggie's two month pictures made. We then, of course, stopped and ate at Bojangles and headed to Greenville. We visited with Wes' grandparents who got to see Maggie for the first time. They were so excited to get their hands on her. We had a cookout with Wes' family on Friday night. After not a lot of rest Friday night, we rolled out early on Saturday morning to head to Havelock and Morehead City. Wes and my Dad went to Cherry Point for the Airshow. This was my Dad's first airshow. They had a great time, although they almost melted. Mom and I took Maggie down to the beach for the first time. It was awfully hot, but we let her put her toes in the sand and stayed in the shade. She seemed to enjoy it as I watched her wiggle her tiny toes around. We all were exhausted when we got in late last night, but it was a nice weekend away. People tell us that if we are on the go type people, we better get Maggie ready early, so we have officially started.
Posted by: Bethany

Know God, Know peace, No God, No peace.

So I was sitting around doing some thinking today and I came to the conclusion that without God we are all in some serious trouble. I've realized that in my life, which is the only one I can honestly speak about, when I try to do things on my own, I usually fail. On the flip side of that when I include God's direction in my decisions things usually turn out a whole lot better. I won't go into many details on what "decision" it is I'm speaking on, but trust me, it's true.

Faith is a powerful word and a powerful tool to use in life, it's also my daughter's middle name! Plenty of people claim to have faith in many different things, I claim my faith in God. My faith has never ever been tested the way it was when Maggie was in the hospital. We were rendered completely helpless by the situation. It was awful. I wanted so bad to switch places with her but I couldn't. The only thing we could do was pray. We were going to pray for her anyway, but to put your faith in God, someone you cannot physically see, can be a challenge. I'm in no way saying trusting God is hard, because it's not, especially when you do and you're rewarded. What I'm speaking on is to want so bad to have something happen, and not be able to make it happen yourself. If you see a stick in the yard, it's bothering you, you want it out of the yard. What do you do? You go pick it up and move it. What if you see a stick in your yard, and you have no arms or legs? What do you do then? You call someone on the phone (you can't see them), ask for them to help you, and then trust that their going to come help you. That's how it was and is in our day to day lives when we pray for assistance. We have to have FAITH that God is going to do what He feels is in your best interests and what fulfills his plan for your life. It's amazing how human beings, who typically lean more towards instant gratification, can step out in faith and not only ask for something, but be willing to wait for it, and know in your heart that God is answer you. I'm so thankful he answered me.

Posted by: Wes

My next few birthdays.

Today we celebrated Bethany's grandmother's 70th birthday. Posted all over the fellowship hall in the church, in photo albums, and on computer screens were pictures taken over the years of Janet, the grandmother. The pictures represented occasions and momentous events that were worth remembering. As I stood over a table flipping through the pages of a photo album I got thinking about my life, things that have happened, things that may happen, and I wondered one thought. If I were to die today, would there be anything left undone, anything that my family left behind would wish that I would have done, anything left behind that my family would make proud of me? I truly hope that when I am gone, if I make it til I actually die, I honestly believe the rapture is right around the corner, that I will have done what all I've intended on doing. Most of all when I check out of this world I want to make sure that I still have my faith intact, so that when I am face to face with God he welcomes me with open arms to heaven. Ok ok ok, I'm not implying that by the fact that we celebrated a 70th birthday that we're close to checking out, but it does make one sit back and examine the progress that we've made in life. In the 25 years I've been alive I definitely have a ton of memories, some good and some bad, but to this point no regrets. I've made mistakes here and there, some worse than others, but fortunately I feel as though I am the sum of my experiences so I can take all the steps I've made and ensure that they'll lead me in the right direction, to 45 more years of memories til they celebrate my 70th birthday party.

Posted by: Wes

Life's a beach, or is it?

In August we'll be going to the beach for a week. I love the beach, what a wonderful place to reflect and relax. I miss going to the beach as much as I used to. I got to thinking about the beach and how much I love it today and some things crossed my mind in the mean time. Think about this, when you go to the beach, unless you have the privilege of actually living there, you're on vacation. Vacations are meant to "break away" from the real world, to "escape", and to get away from it all. What exactly is it that we're getting away from though? Is a vacation actually a "vacation"? Why should we have to go on a vacation to get that peace of mind that we all pursue so hard, only to come up short, stressed out, and fatigued? Is the "real" life we live actually the way life is really meant to be lived? I don't think so. We spend so much time wrapped up in our jobs and running around doing errands, going here to there, getting "important" things done that we forget about what really matters in life. I'm not so sure that God would be too impressed with the current state of affairs here on earth. Families are seeing less and less of each other, Church's attendance numbers continue to decline, poverty is on the rise, and the world's morale is rock bottom. Perhaps we should all make a conscience effort to focus on whats really important and quit letting the world dictate our lives.

P.S. I'm going to have a great time at the beach!

Posted by: Wes

Perspective from my arm chair.

Currently I am sitting in my chair, dog to my right, wife and Maggie sitting in another chair across from me, Braves on the TV. As I look around my house I see things that used to matter to me; 46" flat screen high def TV, a PlayStation 2, a digital camera/ video camera, and a ton of DVDs. Mostly electronics, things I spent my money on, things that used to consume my time, now almost all collecting dust. Did it have to come to a life changing event for me to rearrange my priorities? I'll obviously never know, but I do know that it happened. It's not that I don't still enjoy these things, because I do, but now I just would rather play with my daughter and enjoy something/someone that was almost taken from me. I went back to work for the first time since Maggie's birth today and it's about a 45 minute drive to work, alone, with plenty of time to think. I think it was in those minutes driving to work that the severity of what had just happened to my family and I finally set in. It was scary, I was terrified, I was humbled, I was worried, I was faithful, God was faithful, I was weak, I was strong, I was relieved, and I was thankful. I will remember these last 2 weeks the rest of my life, but I'm so glad that Maggie won't. I just hope and pray that I don't backslide and lose my priorities again. I like the way life is going now. My happy family, Mom, Dad, Maggie, and Mazey. Yes once again outnumbered by girls, but I've had plenty of practice. Thanks to our wonderful families that helped us get through what proved to be the most intense struggle of our lives, and thank you Lord for bringing my baby girl home.

Posted by: Wes

Bottles, Sleep, Diapers, and Baseball.

Ok so for the last few nights, since my last post, sleeping has seemed more like a luxury than a routine. Maggie clearly has had her days and nights mixed up, although we sort of already knew that, when Bethany was pregnant she felt Maggie kick more at night than any other time. Around 10:oopm we would rock baby, feed her, change her diaper, and then lay her down in her bed in hopes of catching at least a couple of hours of sleep, all we caught was hours upon hours of crying and not sleeping. Boy, was I unprepared for this part of parenthood, now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade it for anything, but WOW! This routine of not having a routine, and not sleeping went on for 3 days. Finally last night we finally got to sleep, we slept about 2 1/2 to 3 hours at a time, which in normal times was crazy, but these days was an answer to prayer. Sleeping last night was the start to a new day I believe. Things today, Sunday, have been great. It's been raining off and on for the last few hours, so we've been camped out in the living room watching the Atlanta Braves play the Dodgers on tv. The Braves are winning. I think Maggie will like the Braves, in fact I wrote a song about it in my head.

Maggie and Daddy watching the Braves,

Jeff Francouer is one of our faves.

Sitting in the recliner drinking our milk,

watching Chipper Jones hit smooth as silk.

On first base Mark Teixiera,

when Grandma comes over I got to share ya.

Behind the plate to catch is Brian McCann,

I love to kiss Mags little hand.

Ok I'm done, yeah maybe a little corny, but like I said, we're enjoying a great day. The joys of parenthood, I know I have tons to learn, but so far the journey has been everything I'd hoped it would be.

Posted by: Wes

A Long Unexpected Journey.

So if you don't know what the definition of the word naive is let me tell you. Being naive is when you think that because millions of people before you have done the very same thing as you're getting ready to do, without incident, that your experience will be the same. Life ain't always beautiful or predictable, in fact the only thing predictable about life is that it's unpredictable. Thursday April 3rd my wife, Bethany, and I headed to Randolph Hospital in Asheboro to "have our baby". We were looking forward to being home by the weekend and enjoying the next week off with our new daughter. This is where life got interesting. Bethany went into active labor at 11:45 p.m. Thursday and was still in labor with no signs of a let up more than 17 hours later! Absurd. Bethany's doctor decided it would be necessary to deliver through a C-Section. After about a 30 second conversation with the doctor and ourselves Bethany and I were whisked away to an operating room to finally deliver the baby.
The C-Section went smoothly and as planned, however our baby's lungs were not formally formed yet, her having been delivered at week 37, 3 weeks earlier than planned. Maggie was not breathing on her own when she was pulled from Bethany's womb and had to be artificially respirated. Two days later, after the doctors decided they did not have the technology needed to treat Maggie's problems the decision was made to transfer her to Brenners Children's Hospital in Winston Salem.
For the next 13 days Maggie was treated at Brenner's for what her doctor, Dr. Stephen Parsons, diagnosed her with, Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS). RDS is a condition that fewer than 5 percent of children born at her age suffer from. Again, life is unpredictable. Bethany and I only slept in our own bed once in the 13 days after Maggie's delivery. In and out of hotel rooms, waiting rooms, and the local chapter of the Ronald McDonald House, finally we got the news we had been hoping and praying for.
Thursday April 17th the three of us were discharged from the hospital and headed home. God is truly amazing. When our morale was at it's lowest, God was at His strongest. I truly believe that if it were not for the hundreds of people praying for us the outcome could have been very different. Thanks to all who were with us in this time, who prayed for us, and helped provide for our needs.

Posted by: Wes